Well, after arriving in Florida, I managed to start relaxing. This will come as a surprise to no one I’m sure, but hey, this is for writing what I’m doing, is it not? Anyway, I managed to get a little bit of work done on my report and a lot of relaxing time with Anastasia. I also managed to do a lot of the organisational stuff for my applications to grad school, which is good… bloody transcripts are a pain in the ass, I tell you.

Anyway, things were going swell until the Friday before Christmas, when Anastasia’s cousin (older, more like an aunt) got into a bad car accident and was hospitalized. After what looked like a long recovery, things went downhill and unfortunately the damage was too severe. She died at 9.30am on Christmas. A whole swathe of the family (including Anastasia and I) were there at the hospital and it was all extremely sad. This family has gone through a lot. Only six months prior, the father of the cousin in the car accident had passed away as well.

This all made for a very muted holiday.

I did manage to see some of my family on Christmas in NZ, it was good to talk to Dace again. Michael was there as well (he’s a friend of the family about my age) and it was good to see him as well. I think he had a little too much fun playing with the delay on the webcam, though. ^^